Some Bad News

Today, I received some disturbing news this afternoon, just a few hours ago.

Apparently, my great cousin, who babysat me when I was younger, had a fairly significant stroke while riding on the trolley. He had forgotten his cell phone that was at home on the charger. He figured he would be ok without it for a few days. He was on his way to a mini vacation.

He had the stroke on the trolley and was taken to the hospital for a few days. He just arrived home late yesterday evening. His left side is weak and he has a cane. He is due to begin physical therapy very soon and to have surgery in a few weeks to remove the built up plaque in the artery leading to his brain. Apparently, the artery was blocked enough to cause a delay of blood to his brain, thus causing the stroke.

I'm close to only a few family members and he is one of them. I plan to call him daily and to be there during the surgery. He lives in San Diego, an hour away from me. Needless to say, I won't be comfortable until he recovers. He is an older cousin, in his mid sixties, about 64 years old. I don't want to think about the other possibility. However, at his age, it is quite possible :(. I'm quite concerned at this point.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my mom who passed of cancer on Dec 14th of 1999. He battled it for 12 or 13 years, if I recall correctly.

Anyway, positive thoughts and prayers.

Staying Focused

So far, so good with the start of the new year. Kids are still home for this last week. Not quite able to get the routine back in order but things are running smoothly.

Right now, my focus is making sure I don't go into an episode of pain and depression. That means going with the flow and choosing my battles. What can be handled, with in a reasonable arrangement, it gets handled. If it has to wait, then it simply has to wait. Can't make "everyone" happy "all" the time.

All comes down to "balance." I'm still making my lists of things to do, the night before. This really helps alot. My hot baths works wonders :). Once my son & daughter go back to school, I will make more of an effort to get the daycare lessons back on track. Right now, it's a day to day endeavor.

I've been looking for an expensive place to get a mammogram done. Cancer runs in my family. My mom passed due to cancer. It's been about 4 years since I've had one. So far, the place that I have found, will cost me $82. I think this to be a very good price. Besides, this is my life here. I do regular breast exams, but that's not enough.

Well, sorry my life is so boring lol! Happy thoughts and prayers :)

Back to Normal! Yay!

Though the vacation time was great, it feels good to be back to normal. I do, however, still have my upcoming cruise to look forward to. Believe it or not, it still hasn't hit me that it is a "real" vacation for me. Sad huh? lol! I don't think it will hit me until I am walking onto the ship! lol!

I haven't made any new year's resolutions. I only vow to do the best I can each and every day :). I want to appreciate each day, one at a time. The idea is to take off the pressure of any expectations. That way, I won't feel like such a failure when I don't achieve a specific goal :). Just to do my best. That's it.

Yes, the pain is gone, however, I caught a cold which, it too is almost gone. My voice is almost gone. Really rather comical! lol! Unfortunately, due to this cold, I did absolutely nothing for new year's. I laid in bed and watched the silly box!

Overall, we are off to a good start to the new year!

Happy thoughts and prayers

Holiday Weekend

The weekend started out pretty blah. Lately, I've been having several episodes of pain. Thankfully, I had a four day weekend and was able to take some time to do a crash course in pain relief. It took 3 days to recover, but I did :).

My boys bought me a full body massage pad that fits into your recliner. It works absolutely wonderfully! I took a hot bath and rested on the pad. It was soooo nice! By sunday, I was back to my old self.

I managed to make about 4 more poster signs for the daycare. My son went out yesterday, sunday, and put them up. About 20 mins after being done, I get a phone call for a set of 2 year old twins! Today is the interview. They are in a family of 9, so I am working with them to find a payment that would work for both me and them. Today's economay is tough.

It's monday and I feel pretty good. Still feeling a little bit of fatigue. Will take it easy.

Happy thoughts and prayers.

Crazy Morning

It has been a crazy but fun morning today. My girlfriend recently lost her job. Her laptop has been giving her grief so she came over here to send out her resume to a few prospects. Then came my neighbor from across the street who wanted to have tea this morning. Then entered my daughter from work who decided to cook breakfast :).

My daughter decided to offer the rest of us breakfast and we ate and had tea/coffee. It was wonderful! Usually, I don't handle entertaining well at all. Apparently, it's not considered "entertaining" when it's just a few close friends and family hanging out lol! We plan to do it again tomorrow with everyone bringing something towards making breakfast :).

I got up early for an early arrival of one of my day care kids, and I managed to complete another poster. My son went out to put it up today. The parent that gets the poster boards for me, brought a whole stack of them yesterday. I plan to make as many as I can over the weekend. It takes time to draw out the words and balloons (balloons are my logo), but it is relaxing and fun. I'm looking forward to it.

Update on the modification for my mortgage. I finally mailed the paperwork, with the first check, yesterday. They have lowered my mortgage to $1537.50 from $3320.00. This is for a 3-month trial period to see if I can handle this payment. If not, then that's it, it's over. If so, which I will, then the take another 30 days to finalize the numbers. I am comfortable with this figure. However, I absolutely must get some kids in the day care. Right now, with things as they are, the budget is tight, but doable. That's not comfortable for me. I don't want to be "rich", I just want to be able to pay my bills and have a few dollars in case an emergency happens.

Keep the faith. Think happy thoughts! :)

Winter Weather

A few days ago, we had some really nice rain. It was perfect. Not too much and not too little. Winds were very mild until late night. Even then the winds weren't too bad.

It's interesting that the rain actually lifted my spirits. I love how it sounds as it hits different surfaces. I love the smell afterwards. I just love the rain. It's so refreshing to me.

I am enjoying, as always, the winter months. These are the months where I get a few days off each month. It is a struggle to take a vacation with the day care. November, December and January, I get 4-day weekends!

This year, I am going on my first cruise at the end of January. I'm a little nervous. I don't like water, quite afraid of it. At the same time, I am excited and very much looking forward to it. I'm a little uneasy to leave my household. Yes, my kids are older but, I guess it's a mom thing. Just not use to it. I'm sure I will be fine once I'm on my way :).

Soooo Much Better!

Oh wow! I can't believe how much better I feel these days. I thank you all for your support!

I had to really sit down and ask myself what was going on, why was I allowing this to go on for so long? I was just in such dislike of how I was feeling. It took some tears and some journaling, but things have turned around. I am doing so much better!

The other night, my son came to me after taking his bath, and said, "Mom, I don't have any clean underwear." Of course, I had told him a few days prior to take his dirty laundry down to the laundry room which he did not lol! He was not amused when I told him he could borrow a pair of my undies! LOL!

Today, he's not feeling too well with an ear ache in both ears. You know how teenagers can be. They don't want to bundle up in the cold. He was feeling really bad last night. Today he is a wee bit better. He is actually lying down! That's saying alot for him!

I decided to make my own daycare advertisements for the side of the road in hopes of gaining a few kids. One of my parents works for a sign company and he was able to spare a few boards for me that were going into the trash. I'm not the greatest artist, but I think it gets the point across :). So far, my son and I put of two of them at the main intersection near out house. I still have one more to make.

I've been working on the letter "L" with the daycare kids. This week, we painted out ladybugs. My grandson really enjoyed his!

Yes, the paint is non-toxic lol! He's fine although I did clean his mouth out immediately!...:) These are the results! His is on the far right.